The commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is an Afghan described by American officials as the most significant Taliban figure to be detained since the American-led war in Afghanistan started more than eight years ago. He ranks second in influence only to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban’s founder and a close associate of Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mullah Baradar has been in Pakistani custody for several days, with American and Pakistani intelligence officials both taking part in interrogations, according to the officials.
That isn’t partisan chest-thumping; it’s just reality. Baradar’s capture comes just two weeks after U.S. forces took out Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban and extremist with close ties to al Qaeda. In August, Baitullah Mehsud was killed. In September, U.S. forces took out Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, the ringleader of a Qaeda cell in Kenya and one of the most wanted Islamic militants in Africa.
And Republican whining notwithstanding, these successes have come without torture, with civilian trials on U.S. soil for suspected terrorists, and while attempting to close the detention facility at Gitmo.
Steve apparently doesn’t read much of Michelle Malkin’s intellectually sleazy and corrupt doggeral. As one reads this it’s not difficult to imagine she sprayed some rabid right-wing spittle all over her keyboard. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar: Captured – By Michelle Malkin • February 16, 2010 07:48 AM
Two quick questions:
What would Eric Holder say?
And if capturing this jihadi in a violent raid is worth trumpeting and celebrating, why doesn’t the Obama administration free the Navy SEALS who are accused of far less in their battle against terrorism in Iraq?
Wait, one more question. Check this out:
The New York Times learned of the operation on Thursday, but delayed reporting it at the request of White House officials, who contended that making it public would end a hugely successful intelligence-gathering effort. The officials said that the group’s leaders had been unaware of Mullah Baradar’s capture and that if it became public they might cover their tracks and become more careful about communicating with each other.
The Times is publishing the news now because White House officials acknowledged that the capture of Mullah Baradar was becoming widely known in the region.
Fancy that. The terror-tipping NYT blabbermouths who repeatedly undermined national security during the Bush years by disclosing sensitive/classified information about many key counterrorism programs are now sensitive to ongoing counterterrorism operations. The paper that went to court to force the government to release classied information about jihadis and has shown reckless disregard for the consequences of disclosure is now delaying reports at the request of White House officials.
Not wow this is great that a terrorist scum bag was captured – a lynch pin of terrorist operations in Afghanistan – that will have far ranging consequences for the future of radicalism in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, but the pouty “What would Eric Holder say?”, clearly Malkin is disappointed with the victory. And when in yet another morally vacant snit always take time to put up some factless demagoguery about the NYT. The NYT disclosures she is referring – she offers no proof what so ever the NYT endangered our national security – is the disclosure of two illegal activities perpetrated by the Bush administration – the torture and murder of detainees and the NSA spy program that treated every America as a terror suspect. The later one assumes, the dream come true of the Founding fathers when they wrote the 4th Amendment and in clear violation of FISA. The revelation of the spying program evidently did not do much harm as President Obama continues the same policy and per the original story, we’re still capturing, much to Malkin’s consternation, terrorists. Malkin, never one to be bothered with being fair and accurate, as befits her professional lack of ethics, fails to mention that the NYT was one of the media cheerleaders that helped sell the American public on shocking and awing Iraq. Malkin is a example of the kind of blind morally corrupt world view that defines rightwing “journalism” which never lets subtlety, detail, context and the facts get in the way of catapulting the twisted partisan propaganda.
There is a global warming hoax/conspiracy. It just happens to be coming from Conservatives, IPCC errors: facts and spin. I’m tempted to say its ironic that the same people who sold America that pack of deranged lies about Iraq are largely the same people claiming global warming is a hoax; but it is not ironic, it simply typical.
Good riddance to Evan Bayh, who set out to be every Republican’s favorite Democrat — and mostly succeeded. My one complaint about Bayh leaving is why isn’t he taking Ben Nelson(D-Nebraska) with him.
The Long Goodbye 